The Dragon Rider
by CleanWar
Summary: Harry's twin-brother Gerard, was proclaimed The-Boy-Who-Lived and Harry slowly but surely was forgotten by everybody. At his 10th birthday he has had enough and decides to run away. Harry meets a dragon and it would change his destiny. Lily and James Potter are still alive. Pairing: Harry/Fleur -ON HIATUS-
1. Chapter 1

Harry couldn't take it anymore.

It was Harry's 10th birthday today and when he walked into the living room of Potter Manor it was filled with birthday gifts, except none of the gifts were for him, but for his twin-brother Gerard… The Boy Who Lived….

It was 10 years ago on a dark and windy Halloween that Harry and his twin were attacked by Voldemort at their parents cottage in Godrics Hallow while their parents were gone. Nobody knows what exactly happened, but Harry's brother was proclaimed the defeater of Voldemort.

In the beginning nothing changed, but slowly but surely only Gerard mattered to his parents. When he was younger, the times increased that his parents forgot about him in his crib and only looked at his brother and that the house elves had to feed and take care of him.

When Harry at the age of 3 used magic for the first time it was mistaken that Gerard did it and a huge party was thrown for him. Yet Harry was totally forgotten that night

At the of age 5 his parents forgot to take him back home for the first time when they had visited a quidditch game, he had to be brought back by a auror who saw him standing there lonely and sad.

At the age of 6 Harry had to witness the fact that his mother for the first time only set up the table for diner for 3 people. They were laughing and speaking jovially amongst themselves, having forgotten the boy who had to watch this from the doorway. He walked back to his room crying, and a house elf popped in with a plate filled with his dinner.

At the age of 8 Harry had to spend Christmas alone. Normally his father would wake him up early in the morning and they would all sit near the fire and open gifts. They would laugh and sing. But this Christmas his father didn't wake him up and when he awoke by himself and went downstairs he saw that the house was empty. One of the house elves told him that they had left to spend Christmas with Sirius, Remus and the Weasleys. And they had all forgotten about him.

And now at his 10th birthday, his parents forgot him entirely. Harry was broken inside from sadness, slowly throughout his childhood he had to witness as his parents more and more forgot him and started paying more attention to his twin-brother. He grew up lonely, unloved with only the house elves as his real family. They never forgot him and they took care of him.

But Harry finally had enough. He was done with being ignored and lonely. He decided in one impulsive moment to do something that would change his life… To run away.

* * *

Harry woke up in the middle of the night. He placed his goodbye letter for the house elves on his nightstand and put on his clothes that he had already prepared. He picked up his bag filled with absolute necessities; a wand he had managed to procure, some money and some clothes.

He silently walked through the Manor and walked out of the Manor through the back door. He took a couple of steps forward and turned around to face the Manor. If it was up to him, this would be the last time he laid his eyes upon the Manor. Memories flashed before his eyes, happy ones but mainly sad ones. It was just a reminder of the fact that if he would stay that the tally of sad memories would only grow.

Harry turned around and marched off without ever looking back. Tears silently creeping down his face.

It would be 1 year later, when the Hogwarts letters arrived for the twins, that the Potters finally found out that he was gone. They immediately contacted Dumbledore, but he just told them that it might be for the best. Harry would've suffered from all the attention and treatment his brother would have received he reasoned. Nobody in the wizardry world knew about the Potter's lost son, they were all too busy with the boy-who-lived to ever remember that he had a twin.

* * *

Harry had walked for hours through dark forests and hills when he finally stopped to take a break. He sat down upon an old tree trunk and opened his bag to grab a sandwich. Taking a bite, he closed his eyes and just basked in the silence of the nature around him. He cleared his mind of all thoughts and it was just him and the nature.

And it was at that moment he felt a small warm presence in his mind. Curiously Harry's mind began to focus on that small presence, and when he poked the presence with his mind a warmth spread through his body. And for whatever reason the small warm presence and the warmth in his body began to tug him, willing him to go into a direction.

Harry, the ever curious little child, decided to just follow it and walked off into the direction. It only felt like seconds, while actually hours passed by, that he arrived at a cave. The cave was huge and in the side of a cliff. The path into the cave, Harry realised, looked very worn indicating that it has been used plenty of times. With every step he took into the direction of the tug, the presence in his mind began to grow in size and warmth, by now in front of the cave it was very hot, but still not unpleasant for him.

The presence urged him forward into the cave and he just complied. The cave was old and dry, and very large. The overhanging ceiling used to have spikes of stone aiming downwards, but for whatever reason they were broken off. The cave bent around a corner and when Harry reached the corner and looked around it, he couldn't help himself to gasp.

In front of him a large blue beast was curled up like a dog. When he looked closely he corrected himself, lizard not beast. But then he saw the wings. Flying lizard? Then the scales popped in his mind, no not a flying lizard but a dragon! Now he realised why the ceiling of the cave looked so broken, the dragon was huge and when standing up probably reached the ceiling and probably broke of a lot of the stones.

The presence in his mind just urged him forward, towards the dragon. Harry tried to fight the urge, even he knew at his age that dragons are dangerous, very dangerous. And waking one will definitely not score you positive points with them. But the presence had grown so strong that Harry lost the battle of will and his body ever so slowly walked up towards the dragon.

And Harry saw something that froze his mind in shock. The dragon slowly stirred awake, but then he shot his head up in a fast motion. His eyes were drawn to him and the presence in his mind finally stopped urging him forward.

The dragon looked at him with large golden eyes, like he was evaluating him and the dragons eyes bore right into Harry's soul. He could feel the presence inside him reaching out towards the dragon.

Harry felt the presence meeting the dragon and his golden eyes widened, then something happened what shocked him even further. He heard an old and heavy voice in his mind

" _Mock my fire, a speaker! I am Veraxes young speaker. I am honored to meet you"_

Harry's eyes widened and he looked at the dragon in awe, did that dragon just speak with him!? In his mind!?

Then the dragon let loose a sound that sounded an awful lot like chuckling

" _I can assure you young speaker, I certainly did speak to you and you just spoke with your thoughts to me."_ the dragon boomed inside of Harry's head

Harry froze. His thoughts!? He could speak to dragons in his thoughts!?

Harry was clearly still in awe and, he admitted, still afraid of the dragon " _F-forgive me S-sir, but why a-are you s-so polite to m-me_ " he asked the dragon stuttering in his mind

" _No dragon would disrespect a speaker young one. Speakers are revered by dragons, as there has been so few of them, only a couple of speakers have existed in history. Past wizards or witches bearing the gift became great and powerful young one_ "

" _But w-why would a dragon care about a w-wizard speaking to them?"_ Harry asked tentatively

" _Young one, the gift of speaking to dragons is given to people by magic themselves, they have it because magic felt they needed it for their destiny. Dragons are creatures of pure magic, we have to follow the will of magic. Magic wills us to help you young one_ " Veraxes explained

" _B-but isn't that slavery?"_ Harry asked, getting a bit overwhelmed to the fact that he can control such large creatures

" _Yes and no young one, while magic wills us to help you in your destiny. The magic inside of you wills you to help us dragons. To take our needs to the heart, to protect us against danger young one_ "

The world began to spin a little for Harry, only a few hours ago he was just running away from his family and now he learned about an ancient power few possess and if the dragon spoke true he was responsible for the dragons in the world.

Veraxes sensed his internal struggle " _Go sit young one and rest. I will protect you and keep you warm_ "

Harry attempted to walk off and go and sit down, but then the warm presence returned and started urging him to remain where he was. He frowned " _I can't, the presence in my mind, it forces me to remain where I am_ "

Veraxes' eyes widened a little bit " _Tell me young one, did this same presence urge you to come to this place?"_

" _Yes… why do you ask?_ "

" _Legend says that magic itself urges the speaker, when the time is right, to find its companion among the dragons. He would find his dragon companion and they would bond, making both the speaker and the dragon stronger. I think that is why you are here with me, magic thought the time was right and urged you towards me."_

" _Give into the presence young one, don't resist it_ " Veraxes urged

For some reason the presence in his mind agreed with the words Veraxes spoke, it began spreading a soothing feeling throughout his body. And Harry complied, he let go of all will and gave into the presence. Just like before Harry's body began moving on itself. He began to move towards the dragon and he reached out towards the dragon's face with his hand. Veraxes lowered his face and Harry's hand and Veraxes snout touched.

Harry upon contact with Veraxes' snout, he could feel the presence in his mind reach out and embrace the dragon and he could feel something similar as the presence, embrace him. He could feel the embracing becoming tighter, like they became one whole. Harry felt the embrace reach its maximum strength and then suddenly let loose and the feeling of the embrace was gone. But something remained in his mind, an old and strong presence. It felt warm and soothing yet powerful.

But before Harry could investigate the presence more, he blacked out.

Unknown to Harry, a shockwave of magic went through the world only felt by dragons and dragon-like creatures like large serpents and Wyverns. Although never having felt anything like it before, they immediately knew what it was and why it was there. A speaker had returned!

All through the world, for several weeks, reports were made of the increase of activity from dragons and dragon-like creatures. Not about them rampaging and destroying villages and towns or anything, but more of them being hyperactive, like they were happy and excited.

The wisest and oldest of the dragons and their kin began preparing for their journey to south-east France… They were all heading to Château de dragons, the ancestral home of all Dragon Riders.

They were all planning to meet the Dragon rider and help him.

 **A/N: The pairing is Fleur/Harry  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Harry came back to conscience with a massive groan. He tried opening his eyes but his head had a massive splitting headache and things certainly weren't better with other body parts. His whole body was aching and hurt. And thus he just stayed down on the ground, with his eyes close and softly groaning from the pain.

Harry started wondering what had happened, did he fall from some stairs and lost conscience?

For some reason he had some picture of him standing in a cave talking through his head with a dragon in his mind. Surely this had to be some weird trick his brain played with him due to his fall or something.

In a distant distance he heard a chuckle, which sounded very familiar to him. Yet he couldn't get around what it was. It was nagging him as it was on the tip of his tongue.

Moments passed with Harry still laying on the ground, slowly working through the pain while trying to remember why the chuckle sounded so familiar.

Then it shot through his mind! Dragon! Cave! Speaker! He remembered it all again, the chuckle belonged to Veraxes! He shot up with his upper body into a sitting position. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, immediately his body reacted to the fast movement and he started vomiting on the floor.

Groaning he lied down again and started wondering why this was happening to him. First his parents abandoning him and now him violently ill in a cave, probably in the presence of a dragon….. Life must surely hate him….

Then a voice, he recognized as Veraxes', boomed in his head, " _Now now, young one. Magic has bestowed a gift on you, that few have possessed and many have wanted. Nothing wonderful has ever come easy"_

Harry groaned as the headache returned in full force. Veraxes' voice in his head isn't very good for a headache " _Voice… Loud… Headache…"_

Harry, still keeping his eyes closed, could hear massive movements close by. Moments later he could feel a warm breath washing over him. His head cleared massively from the headache and he could feel the aches and pain lessening in his body.

He opened his eyes and the first thing he could see was a massive golden eye, part of a blue dragon head, staring at him.

He wondered what caused his pain to lessen.

" _Dragon breath can heal young one. Dragons can push out magic trough their breath that can help heal wounds and pains. But not everything is curable through magic. Remember that carefully young one and don't take magical healing for granted"_

He just nodded and began thinking about the events just before his black out. Veraxes told him about his ability, the mental talking with dragons. How he had to help the dragons and they would help him.

Harry began to realise in childish glee, having the help of all dragons in the world really is a gift! Dragons are huge! Nobody would dare to mess with him now! He could show his parents that he's better than Gerard!

But like most childish dreams this one was cut off too, and rather harshly at that.

A loud growl could be heard through the cave. So loud that the cave started to shake.

" _Your gift is not something used for revenge young one! It was given to you to better the world! You're responsible for an entire magical race! You cannot give into petty thoughts!"_

His internal feeling of glee of besting his brother quickly turned into shame, he did give into to his feelings and forgot about other things. He was responsible for others, it's selfish to think about his own problems. Even though they still hurt.. badly

Veraxes heard a soft voice in his own mind filled with shame " _Sorry_ "

" _I forgive you young one. You are still just a child who has to learn. And luckily learn you shall."_

" _You will help me?"_ Harry asked hopefully.

" _Of course I will help you young one, we are bonded. Our future is together._ " Veraxes replied

Harry couldn't help but look around him and wonder if they would stay in this cave. Living in a cave is exciting, in the nature on your own with nobody to tell you what to do. But he doesn't have any survival skills. he can cook, but he can't make a fire. Of course with a dragon he wouldn't need to make a fire. But still it shows how hard living in the nature would be for them and that they would encounter plenty of problems along the way. It showed how badly thought out Harry's plan of running away was.

Veraxes caught onto his thoughts " _There is a castle in France young one. It's called Château de dragons and it's the ancestral seat of the Speakers."_

He turned and looked at Veraxes with awe _"I have a castle!?"_

Veraxes chuckled " _You have young one, it was built by the first speaker millennia ago. It's filled with ancient artefacts and tomes filled with knowledge, left by the other Speakers for if they are ever needed by their successors. We will use it to train you for whatever your destiny will be young one"_

Harry nodded and smiled at his blue companion, remembered again by the word 'we' that he isn't alone anymore.

But then he started thinking, at Hogwarts they got teachers helping them in learning the magic. Not only telling them about the theory behind the magic but also helping them how to do spells and curses. Dragons aren't wizards, so how will Veraxes learn him to use magic?

Veraxes heard his musings through their link and immediately answered " _We won't be alone young one. A large magical wave was created by our bonding and if my suspicions are correct, all the dragons and dragon kin around the world will know that there is a new Speaker. We will probably be greeted by the Wise Dragons when we arrive at the castle"_

" _What magical wave? I didn't feel anything? And who are the Wise Dragons?"_ Harry asked him

" _You passed out when the bond was completed and didn't feel the large magical wave bursting out from us. I was still conscious and could feel the wave. The wave gave me, even when I knew about your existence already, a feeling that told me that a Speaker had returned. Surely the others felt the wave and now know of your existence young one. the Wise Dragons are probably travelling to the castle as we speak, trusting that the Speaker will go to his new home."_

He took a moment of silence and continued;

" _The Wise Dragons, young one, are our leaders in the world and every region of the world has one dragon representing us young one. Our closest dragon kin, large serpents and wyverns have representatives that are part of the Wise Dragons. In time of emergencies the Wise Dragons gather and act the role of our rulers."_

" _And they are waiting for us?"_ Harry asked for confirmation

" _I think so yes young one"_

Harry's face lit up. Even tough not long ago he was dead terrified of dragons, he now was super excited to meet more of them.

" _What are we waiting for then!? Let's go!"_ Harry squealed in excitement and already starting to walk out of the cave, only to be stopped by the grumbling of his stomach.

"oh" he softly said "I forgot all about eating" and he started chuckling softly

" _I can smell food in your little bag young one. Eat first and we will leave"_ Veraxes said in an amused voice

Harry grabbed his bag and sat down on a rock close to Veraxes. While eating a sandwich he realised another thing; _"How are we going to get to France!?"_ He asked Veraxes and he just gave him a very amused look

" _Young one…. Dragons can fly"_ and Veraxes started chuckling after seeing Harry face palming

" _I'm so dumb sometimes…"_ he moaned.

* * *

10 minutes later they were ready to leave.

After some instructions from Veraxes on how to mount him and where to hold him while in flight, they left the cave. Veraxes lied down and Harry climbed up his side and seated himself behind one of the spikes on Veraxes' back and started holding it tight.

Veraxes stood up to full height and spread his wings. After some fast steps, many flaps with his wings and one last huge jump, they started climbing into the air. Harry twisted and turned while trying to watch his surrounding becoming smaller and smaller as much as he could while still holding the spike for dear life.

While the ascension in the air is very shaky, where Harry had to hold on tight to not fall off. The flight once they were on the correct height above the clouds was very relaxing. Veraxes slowed the flapping of his wings and started to glide more through the air.

Harry just closed his eyes and started to enjoy the flow of air into his face. For some reason, being up so far in the air gave him a relaxed feeling.

Veraxes told him that the flight would take them around 3 hours to reach Château de dragons in South-East France, and thus Harry asked him to tell him more about the speakers.

" _The first speaker emerged in ancient Egypt young one. A large serpent infested the Nile and the Egyptians thought the serpent was Apophis, a demon from Egyptian legend, and fled in terror. Ancient Egypt was on the brink of destruction, due to the lack of food coming from the fields surrounding the Nile."_

" _An unknown man arrived near where the serpent lived on a day and claimed that he heard about their struggle and that he could speak to serpents. The Egyptians were so desperate that they decided to believe him and guided him to the serpent. The man talked to the serpent and learned why the serpent came to the Nile. He had lost his own territory to other serpents and was driven away by them and he fled to Egypt. The man convinced the serpent to leave the Nile and travel with him to the north, to the sea at the end of the Nile"_

" _They travelled with each other around , what now is known as the Mediterranean sea. During the journey they formed a friendship and actually bonded together. Just like us. They discovered after the bonding that the man was able to talk to other species close to the serpents, while before the bonding he could only talk to large serpents and snakes."_

" _So wait! The first speaker was actually a parselmouth and after bonding to a serpent he grew the ability to talk to dragons!?"_ Harry asked with a feeling of fear. He was taught that parselmouth is dark magic and that all parselmouths were dark wizards. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was the primary example of a dark wizard with parselmouth abilities he was taught by his parents.

" _Young one, magic is not dark nor light. It's how you use the magic that makes you dark or light. A dark wizard uses magic for evil purposes. A light wizard uses magic for light purposes. They might not see it like that themselves, but in essence magic is magic young one. Never let them tell you that the magic you use is dark or light."_ Veraxes explained calmly to the clearly destressed young wizard. _"Parselmouths just speak the language of snakes young one, nothing more nothing less. It's because snakes represent evil that parselmouth is viewed as dark magic"_

" _Oh, so He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was a dark wizard because he used his magic and parselmouth for evil purposes and not because the magic he used was dark?"_

" _Exactly young one."_

It was silent for some moments before Veraxes continued his story

" _The speaker and the serpent decided to settle in an area near, what we now know as the Alps, in South-East France. In that time and age, the alps was home to many dragons, serpents and snakes and he started to experiment and write down his findings on his abilities with help of the dragons and their kin. The man realised that his ability was very unique and that his findings had to be protected and preserved for any other speakers that would exist after him. So he, with help of the dragons and their kin, started to construct a castle."_

" _This castle was never named but due to the huge amount of dragons and their kin in the area visiting the castle, the habitants nearby started referring to the castle as Castle Dragon and from that date the castle was known as Castle of the Dragons. We nowadays refer to the castle in French."_

" _Why French?"_ Harry asked

" _I- have no idea. Probably because it sounds cool"_ And Harry and Veraxes started chuckling.

Veraxes continued " _The many speakers who came after the first one, were guided to the castle upon the discovery of their ability and lived and were trained there. In their lifetimes they improved the castle and started adding magical protections beside the dragons who were living in it and guarding it. The knowledge they accumulated, they wrote down in tomes, for their successors to read and study."_

" _Believe me young one, that with the help of us and the vast knowledge available to you at the castle, you will become the man you are needed to become for your destiny."_ Veraxes finished

It remained silent after that, with Harry retreating far into his own thoughts. He felt that he was given a real gift, something extraordinary, something that he should nurture.

The longer Harry was thinking the more he felt out of touch with his past life. His parents abandoned him, while the dragons and the former Speakers were starting to take care of him now.

He was leaving his past as a Potter behind and was starting a new one. It startled him. He felt that with every beat of Veraxes' wings carrying him to South-East France, he was becoming someone else, someone who didn't carried the name Harry Potter.

Harry Potter was becoming someone new, someone better.

* * *

2 hours later, Harry spotted a castle on a cliff on the horizon. With every second passing, the castle became bigger and Harry started seeing more details. The castle was absolutely huge! It was built with 2 outer walls, with one massive courtyard inside of it. A large keep was inside of the courtyard.

 **A/N: For the mental picture, search the castle Carcassonne in google and imagine that build on a cliff but without the houses and such**

In the cliff Harry spotted numerous holes, Veraxes told him that those holes were for the dragons. Speaking of the dragons, Harry spotted a couple flying around the castle as if they were spotting for something.

One of the dragons spotted them and flew out to meet them. And Harry started to panic

" _Veraxes what do we do?"_ he asked nervously

" _Calm young one, he will sense you when he comes closer. You don't have to worry. Be polite and yourself and remember what we rehearsed"_ Veraxes soothingly replied

As if on cue the dragon who came closer, faltered one wing beat as if he was in shock. He regained his rhythm and shot out a roar in triumph and excitement. Veraxes gave out his own roar in reply, drawing the attention of the other dragons near the castle. The dragon lowered his speed and swept around Veraxes and Harry when they reached each other in the air and started flying beside them in the direction of the castle.

A different voice than Veraxes' boomed in Harry's head _"I am honoured to greet you Speaker and his bonded. I am Balerion. Wise Master of Africa and at your service"_

" _Greetings Balerion, I am Harry Potter and this is my bonded Veraxes"_ Harry replied

They arrived at the castle and Veraxes and Balerion swept down and were greeted by a gathering of creatures.

Harry, still seated on Veraxes, clearly spotted the 7 dragons (Balerion included), but aside of them he saw what he suspected were large serpents, snakes and a wyvern.

One of the dragons stepped forward _"Greetings Speaker, I am Zalerion and we are honoured to meet you. We are the Wise Masters of our kind and we are gathered here to help you in your training and destiny"_

Harry just looked at them all in awe, they were so huge! Even the snakes were massive, atleast several meters long! And the magic they spread, he could feel it. It spread around them like a heavy blanket, enveloping Harry, filling him with warmth.

The Wise Masters were still looking at him, while he was blinking and watching them in awe like he was in a candy store as a 5 year old. Veraxes grew tired of the silence and arched his back, causing him to wake up from his stupor by the heavy shaking.

Harry quickly apologised _"I'm sorry Wise Masters, it's just that you all make a very impressive gathering."_ He heard various voices chuckling in his mind, the deep booming voices he knew were the dragons and the slissing high laughs he was sure were the snakes.

" _I am Harry Potter and this is my bonded Veraxes."_ This caused a pandemonium. The various serpents and snakes recoiled in surprise and the dragons gave voices of shock.

The same dragon who addressed him recovered quickly from his surprise and boomed loudly _"ENOUGH!"_ At once all noises drowned.

" _Forgive us speaker, but your name and that of your brothers is famous amongst dragons and our kin. Even we heard about that Halloween night in 1981"_

This was the second time in 10 minutes that his name caused a massive reaction and Harry grew curious and even a little afraid.

" _w-what?"_ Harry stuttered

Zalerion spoke up _"There is this prophesy young Speaker. Speaking about a boy being born at the end of the 7_ _th_ _month of the year. He would be marked as the equal of a dark lord and have the power to vanquish that dark lord. The boy would poses a power that the dark lord doesn't know and it cites that_ _either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives_ _"_

Harry just looked at the dragon in confusion _"So what does that have to do with me?"_

Another dragon stepped up and said _"I am Zadrag, Wise Master of Europe young Speaker."_

" _We believe young Speaker, that this prophesy is talking about you and the dark lord Voldemort. And we believe that Lord Voldemort is not dead"_

" _H-How? Everybody says he is died! T-that Gerard killed him!"_

" _He is not dead young Speaker, not yet. He cheated death somehow, we have felt his presence several times in Europe. Somehow he has lingered on while losing his body. But we don't know how and we don't know how to defeat him."_

Harry paled _"S-so what's that supposed to mean for me?"_

" _Speaker"_ Balerion spoke up _"You must defeat Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort is the strongest Dark Lord in history. If you fail to kill the Dark Lord, which can happen according the prophesy, then many people and creatures will die. Even we the dragons cannot hold him if he is not killed and is allowed to grow in power. Many people will die… Many dragons will die or be enslaved young Speaker."_

" _Remember young one, you have a duty in protecting the dragons. Lord Voldemort is a threat to our kind. He sees pureblood wizards as superior to everything, above all other magical beings like dragons, even other wizards"_ Veraxes softly spoke to him

Harry just nodded _"O-okay I will do it"_

" _Good young one, I am proud of you. I know that the prospect of defeating a Dark Lord weighs heavily on your shoulders. But thousands of innocent people and creatures will die if we don't stop him"_

Harry nodded. He understood that he had to help his brother defeat the dark lord to save many innocents and help the dragons. But he learned on his flight to France, that he didn't want to continue be Harry Potter. That he wanted to be someone else, the new him.

" _Do it young one"_ Veraxes softly told him

Harry looked up and gazed deeply into Veraxes' eyes and he saw him nod, telling him that he supported him and understood him. Harry smiled to him and nodded back to him and turned to speak to the Wise Masters.

" _Is there a way to change your birth and name through magic?"_

The Wise Masters all just stared at him.

Getting no initial response Harry added _"Harry Potter is the old me, the abandoned boy that ran away. I want to change into the new me, the Speaker me, with a new name that will appear when identification magic is used. I want if that is possible, all traces vanished that link me to the Potters. I want to become the new me, the Speaker me, with dragons as family…."_

" _The new me who has a family that cares"_ He softly added, with tears in the corner of his eyes.

The Wise Masters turned and looked at each other and they nodded all in agreement. In front of them is a little boy, that is desperate in leaving behind his old life and beginning his new one with a fresh start. They couldn't refuse him that closure.

Balerion turned to Harry and looked at him softly _"It is possible that some kind of ritual or magic exists that can do that. We will help you find it and help you change your identity young Speaker"_

For the first time the Wise Masters saw a smile on Harry Potter's face that radiated brighter than the sun… No sorry…. On Artemis Ladon's face

 **A/N: Next we are going to make a huge time skip past all the training and get the show on the road. For all people who were looking forward to that, I will look back on it in further chapters through flashbacks and what not.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** : **so while writing this chapter and receiving the reviews on this chapter, I had my first doubts on the Harry helping Gerard defeating Voldemort thing. It will look too much like a Harry is a saint story and let's just slide all the hate, resentment and vengeance away that has been festering him for his whole life. I just can't wrap my head around it and thus I decided to change the story into the generic WBWL - Harry is the real Boy-Who-Lived**

 **I've had my doubts about the current pairing as well, how the hell will I introduce Susan to Harry? During some kind of attack of Voldemort on the Bones family and he jumps to their rescue. But then how will I maintain the relationship? Have him go and attend Hogwarts? But he has dragons to talk to and missions to do to defeat Voldemort. Can he really do that all from Hogwarts itself? Unlikely I think. So I will change the original pairing of Harry/Susan to Harry/Fleur with maybe an addition of Gabrielle.  
**

 **(This is a re-upload. Nothing has changed on this chapter except the A/N is added. I changed chapter 2 so it is compliant to the plot change)  
**

 **French language**

 _Dragon speaking_

 **5 Years later**

On the top right corner of the tribune, a young man with shoulder length white hair and golden eyes was seated. He was tall and has a lean built, yet you clearly could see that he isn't any older than the senior students at Hogwarts. Yet He didn't wear any robes with the Hogwarts crest.

The young man was staring intently at the large screen displaying the events of the 3rd task of the Triwizard tournament. He was watching his twin-brother with red hair and hazel eyes standing there in the middle of a clearance in a maze. Debating with another boy, Cedric Diggory was his name he believed.

Gerard Potter, the obnoxious arrogant brat that he is, had enough of the discussing and took it before Diggory could even react and vanished alongside the cup. All people in the stands gaze shifted from the screen to the podium where his brother should appear with the cup in his hand.

Yet seconds passed on with no sign of his brother and the crowd began to become restless. The young man watched a man with black hair with a red haired woman beside him starting to talk with a grey bearded old man wearing extravagant purple robes.

Artemis Ladon started to scowl slightly as he saw James and Lily Potter discussing with Albus Dumbledore probably about where their son is. He wondered if they had worried about him like that, when he disappeared. Probably not, he never read anything in the papers about the disappearing of the twin brother of the Boy Who Lived.

Artemis shook him out of his thoughts, it wasn't the right time to start thinking about his child hood again. He had to save his brother… Again… As if the first and the second time weren't enough already.

First the philosopher stone, then the Basilisk and now he had to run off to find his brother. Of course he knew who was behind his brother disappearance. His slippery and slissing informants and spies had reported about a dark presence in Little Hangleton. Only one person would ever give a dark presence and visit Little Hangleton and his name is Voldemort.

Artemis had studied the dark lord heavily and knew about his real identity as Tom Marvolo Riddle. He had made sure that any places of importance to the Dark Lord were under surveillance and any unusual events would be reported back to him. To his surprise, last summer Voldemort finally made his return to Britain and had taken residence in his manor.

Sighing he stood up and started walking down the stands, oblivious for the now growing panic among the crowd as his brother had yet to make his appearance. He turned and walked down to the back of the stands, making sure that he was out of sight.

He drew the hood up of his cloak, gazed around one more time for any onlookers. Seeing none, he drew in his magic and flared up in bright flames and disappeared.

He appeared in bright flames in the clearing of the maze. Quickly gazing around he spotted the stand where previously the cup stood and walked over to it. He imagined that by now he was spotted by people on that big screen and they are wondering where he came from. Everybody knows that in Hogwarts you can't apparate, yet the flame traveling he used is so ancient and secret that there are no wards against it.

He felt the lingering magic of the portkey and he just needed to dive in further into that residue magic to learn where the portkey was heading to. Concentrating on that residue magic, he searched through it and finally uncovered what he needed.

The Portkey had taken his twin to a graveyard near Little Hangleton, the one where Voldemort's father is buried.

Not caring that it would be in full view on the screen, he again flared up in flames and disappeared.

* * *

Gerard was whimpering in fear, gone the confident and arrogant boy. He had just witnessed the resurrection of his mortal enemy and he was never more scared in his life.

In front of him Voldemort, dressed in black robes, was addressing his followers, who he had summoned after his resurrection.

In his high voice he spoke "My friends I welcome you." He stopped and gazed around at his gathered followers before he continued "It has been a long 14 years where I have had to live in the woods of Albania. I was confident that you, my most trusted bearers of my mark would seek me out. Yet none came"

One of the hooded dropped to his knees and spoke "My lord, we continued your work. We have worked hard to clear our charges and avoid Azkaban. We have woven ourselves into positions and infiltrated the ministry."

Voldemort turned to the cloaked man on his knees "Ahhh Lucius, my slippery friend. You know that that was not done for my cause, but for all of your own personal cause. The most loyal and devoted to my cause, went down with me in my… 'demise' and are currently suffering in Azkaban for it while you have been living in luxury in your own manor." His eyes staring accusingly at every follower around him, promising pain. He continued "But we deal with this later. We have now more pressing matters to address"

Voldemort turned around and his red eyes bore into the hazel eyes belonging to the young man incarcerated by the statue. In a high voice filled with glee he spoke "Gerard Potter…. How kind of you to be my guest for this evening. I have given you, in my generosity, your very own place above the bones of my father. We can't have you standing at any ordinary place. No No, only a place among the bones of the person involved with both of my births will suffice for you."

He slowly walked towards Gerard and stopped a few feet before.

He continued speaking in a soft voice that carried through the graveyard "A lot of people consider you my bane of existence Gerard. How much fooled are they. How can you defeat me!? A boy! An arrogant boy with no talent of magic and only leeching of his fame! Rest assured boy, you will die tonight and I will send your body personally back to your parents. And then I will kill your blood traitor father and your mudblood mother."

"You know Tom.. Your own family wasn't really better, with your muggle father and squib mother. Yet here you stand, trying to act the pureblood lord that you aren't" A voice spoke up behind them

Stung like a bee everybody turned around and saw a figure casually standing there. The figure's face was hidden under the hood of a black cloak.

Voldemort reacted quick "Who dares to insult the most powerful wizard alive!?"

Almost all wizards would have cowered in fear of standing in the presence of Voldemort and being the target of his anger. Yet the figure began to laugh.

And this made Voldemort even more angry.

"You dare to laugh at me in my face!? Show your face coward! I want to watch the life leave your eyes when I kill you for your disrespect!"

The figure casually lifted his hands and dropped his hood, revealing his silky white shoulder length hair and golden eyes that glowed. The face was young indicating that he should be a upperclassman Hogwarts student. "Well hello Tom, I am Artemis Ladon. Pleased to meet you my lord" and he mockingly bowed

"It seems that I ended in a very famous party" he chuckled "Lord Malfoy is here. I suspect various other lords are here too? Lord Selwyn maybe? And Lord Crabbé and Lord Goyle? And we have Heir Potter here as well!"

"And lastly we got the half-blood Tom Riddle standing here under his pseudo name Lord Voldemort. What a shame that all this celebrity is cowering before him while he is just merely a son of a muggle who was drugged with love potions. Luckily he inherited some Slytherin genes from his squib mother or he would have turned out magicless"

Everybody was stunned into silence and motionless. The death eaters never met someone who talked so blatantly disrespectful to their Master… And without a single strand of fear too!

Voldemort was shocked. Nobody outside of the old fool Dumbledore knew this much about his heritage. If word got out about his past, this could have serious consequences for his war effort. Purebloods are proud and ones he has as allies hate anyone who isn't pure-blooded.

The silence was broken by a shout in anger by Voldemort. Artemis watched as his wand became a blur and curse after curse was shot at him by the Dark Lord.

Artemis flicked both his wrist and everybody expected a wand to appear in both his hands. Yet instead of wands, a shield appeared on his left arm and a sword appeared in his right hand.

The sword had the same colour as steel that was being heated at a very high temperature, a mix of red and yellow. The hilt of the sword was formed like a large claw. The defining colour and hilt form of the sword formed the basis of the name that was given to the sword; Redclaw.

The shield was blue coloured, resembling closely to the colour of Veraxes' scales. The shield was decorated with an image of a dragon face with fiery glowing golden eyes, looking very similar to the eyes of the wielder of this shield.

To the amazement of everybody he started deflecting the curses using both his shield and sword.

Gerard couldn't believe his eyes. The stranger, who had appeared out of nowhere, was duelling the Dark Lord and he was even holding him off! He moved graciously through all the spells and deflected them back using his sword and shield with precision to not only the Dark Lord himself but also to the death eaters.

He watched as the stranger deflected an sickly looking orange curse and it hit one of the death eaters. The death eater dropped to the floor, screaming in pain. The death eaters shook awake and started firing their own curses at the stranger, yet it didn't faze him at all.

For one split second the eyes of the stranger shined brightly and then multiple tombstones where thrown at the death eaters. Most of the death eaters were taken by surprise and got blown away by the tombstones. Many stayed on the ground, either unconscious or convulsing on the ground in pain from the blow.

Yet the stranger and Voldemort duelled on without a second of a pause. Voldemort brought his left hand up to his mouth and to Gerard's amazement, the Dark Lord began breathing fire that eventually started to take shape of a huge snake!

He saw the Dark Lord began to laugh hysterically at the sight of the large serpent of fire and stopped firing spells. But the stranger began to laugh too.

"That was foolish of you Tom"

The stranger lifted up his sword and to Gerard's amazement and Voldemorts absolute horror, the fire serpent was sucked up into the tip of the red-yellow mixed coloured sword. Then the stranger slashed his sword and the fire was released in a great tidal wave towards the Dark Lord. Gerard grimaced as he felt the heat of the fire hit him.

The face of Voldemort was filled with astonishment as he quickly slashed up his wand to deflect the wave of fire. Yet it had clearly taken out a number on the Dark Lord. His robes were sporting burn holes and smoked slightly, his face was sporting burns. The graveyard wasn't left undamaged too, bushes and grass were on fire or reduced to ashes. The closest of the tombstones were blackened. The death eaters had clothes on fire and some from what Gerard could see had burns all over them.

The stranger flicked his sword and all fire in the area immediately stopped. His eyes still glowering as they stared unflinchingly into the red ones of Voldemort. And the Dark Lord did something that only could be counted on one hand; he fled.

"This isn't over stranger" he screeched in his high pitched voice

And with a soft plop they all saw the Dark Lord apparate away. The death eaters who were still conscious and able to use magic quickly followed their master and the air of the graveyard was filled multiple apparitions.

With a flick of his wrists his beautiful sword and shield disappeared and he turned towards the person still stuck to the statue.

With a lazy flick of his hand, the statue released his prisoner and he saw Gerard stumbling forward and then falling to the ground on all fours. His twin brother was clearly in shock. Not even caring in the slightest about his brother, Artemis turned around and started clearing the aftermath of his duel with Voldemort and his followers.

* * *

 **Gerard POV**

Artemis and Gerard appeared in front of the maze in flames. The bright light of the flames drew the attention of many people close by. In shock they stared at the unusual company that appeared at of nothing in front of them.

Artemis let loose of Gerard and moved away to search someone with authority at the ministry. They had to be informed of tonight's event.

3 shouts spread through the area "Gerard!" and a red-haired girl and boy alongside a brown bushy haired girl started running towards Gerard.

The red-haired girl almost jumped into Gerard's arms and the other 2 quickly surrounded them. By now the word of Gerard's return had spread and Artemis saw the last 3 persons that he ever wanted to see walk hurriedly over to them.

Lily and James Potter quickly drew their child into a hug as the 3 friends drew back from their hugs. Dumbledore watched fondly from a little distance and approached them when they broke their hugs. He placed his hand on Gerard's shoulder in a grandfatherly gesture, looked at him with a twinkling in his eyes and asked the important question everybody wanted to ask.

"What happened Gerard?"

Gerard, due to the presence of his friends and family, had regained some of his arrogance and confidence and decided to beautify his experience. It wasn't like they would believe the strangers story over his.

"I touched the cup and it portkeyed me to a graveyard somewhere. I was stupefied in my back as I landed and I awoke being incarcerated to a statue. One of cloaked men that were there, most definitely death eaters, started a ritual with a huge cauldron. 'Bone of my father, flesh of the servant willingly given and blood of his enemy forcibly taken'. One of the men dropped a baby like form and then a figure rose out of the cauldron."

He stopped and took a breath for a minute and Ginny, the red-haired girl, took his hand and soothingly ran her thumb over the back of his hand.

"Apparently it was Voldemort" everybody paled and gasped. Eyes wide from shock.

Dumbledore looked away and nodded severely "It was as I feared. He's returned"

Turning back to Gerard he asked kindly "And then Gerard? How did you escape?"

"He grabbed the left arm of one of the death eaters there and pressed his finger on the mark. Suddenly more cloaked figures apparated and Voldemort started to talk to them. Promising them punishment for why they didn't search for him"

He swallowed and continued "He then remembered that I was there, he freed me and gave me my wand. He wanted to kill me in a duel. We fought and I managed to hold him back. Then that man appeared" and he started looking around for the stranger who he arrived with. Finding him talking to a family with that French champion, he pointed at him.

"He started fighting the death eaters and managed to wound some of them using some weird fire magic. Voldemort realised that he couldn't do anything and decided to flee. Then the man cleaned up the damage at the graveyard and brought us back" Gerard finished proudly

"You were so brave Gerard!" Ginny cooed and hugged him again. "My hero" she whispered in his ear and she kissed his cheek

Lily and James looked proudly at their son. Not many parents could say that their child stood against and managed to hold back the Dark Lord. Especially after participating at such a hard and exhausting task as this third task of the Triwizard Tournament.

Dumbledore, although he smiled at Gerard with twinkling eyes, believed almost nothing of the story Gerard gave. He has been training Gerard personally for some hours in the week since his arrival at Hogwarts, and not once he had been given the impression that Gerard could beat the Dark Lord one to one. Through some passive legilimency when his and Gerard's eyes met throughout the story, Albus received images of the stranger duelling Voldemort and the death eaters wholly by himself.

He had to meet this new piece on the chessboard and make sure that it will fight for the Light.

He gestured to the stranger and said "well let's go meet our helper shall we?"

Everybody nodded and they started to make their way over to Artemis.

* * *

 **Artemis POV**

As he walked away from that useless brat of a brother in search of some kind of ministry official nearby, he was startled by a shout of his name that came from slightly behind him

" **Artemis!** "

He turned and saw a little blond heat missile running at him with full speed. Artemis smiled as he recognised the blur and prepared to catch her. He widened his stance a little and just as he expected she fully jumped into his arms at full speed.

Artemis caught her and twirled around a little to prevent them from falling.

" **Gabrielle Delacour! This isn't public behaviour expected from someone of your standing"** he admonished her quietly in French.

Gabrielle just giggled sweetly as she pressed her head in the nook of his neck " **I just missed you Arti"**

He cared for Gabrielle with the whole of his heart and just melt on the inside when he heard her say that she missed him.

" **I missed you too Gabby** " and he turned his head and pressed a kiss on her head. He saw the rest of the Delacours approach, softly smiling at the two of them. " **Come my angel, let me greet the others"**

He softly dropped her from his arms, but not before he could feel her smile brightly in his neck when she heard him use his own little nickname for her. He took Gabrielle's hand and softly stepped over to the other Delacours.

The Delacours were, if you asked Artemis, his real family. Jean and Appoline Delacour were the father and mother he never had. And the little 12 year old Gabrielle and the very tall 17 year old Fleur were the best friends, confidants and siblings he could have ever wished for.

He met the Delacours while he was shopping in the French magic district in Paris. The initial meeting was rocky at best.

 **Flashback**

He had just been training and living at his castle for 1 year. While walking across the main street, his attention was drawn to some commotion at one of the side streets. He decided to investigate, ever the curious little bugger that he was.

An absolute beautiful blond girl, not much older looking than him. Maybe 13 or 14 years old was being surrounded by males of different ages. They were all vying for her attention, asking her for dates and some even for sex, while sporting glassy looking eyes. One look at the girls face told him that she was afraid and clearly wanted to be as far away as possible from them.

It was clear to see from her age appearance and the attention that she was receiving that she is a Veela and currently undergoing her maturity process. Veela's will look very young, like 7 or 8 year olds, even when they are 12 or 13. At a certain age, almost always between 13 and 15 years old, they undergo their maturity process and in a short time their veela powers and appearance will change quickly. In a matter of months the formerly young looking veela will change into a young woman. During those months they have a hard time controlling their veela abilities, like their allure.

Artemis decided to step in and used his growing magical abilities to cast a shield that physically pushed all the people away. He turned to the teenage veela and saw the fear in her eyes while she looked at him. She was most definitely afraid that he would molest her because of her allure.

Raising his hands up in a peaceful manor he said to her in his lacking French " **I won't do anything, I'm immune to the veela allure**." He gave her a small smile and indicated to his eyes " **They aren't glassed over.** "

The girl looked a bit closer to his eyes and indeed saw that they weren't glassy, confirming that he isn't affected by her allure.

" **Thank you for your help** " she softly said to him with a small smile that graced her face

He gave a nod and was about to comment that her control had returned, as was evident from the men outside of the shield losing interest in her, when his shield broke and he was forcefully turned and grabbed by his collar.

Artemis swallowed in fear as he saw the tip of a wand pointed at his face and beyond the wand, a set of steely grey eyes that belonged to a although small man with a moustache with brown hair.

" **Move away from my daughter you animal** " the man hissed dangerously in his face

Even though he has been receiving training by dragons in the arts of magic, warfare and many other things, he still was an eleven year old child, that would simply paralyze in fear in such situation. He nodded meekly, eyes wide in fear.

The man released him and he immediately turned and set it for a run and disappeared in the crowd on the main shopping street.

The man glared at his back, he had lost sight of his eldest daughter and had been filled with fear that something would happen with her. Especially because she was in the middle of her Maturity. His fears were confirmed when he saw a commotion and his daughter was in the middle of it.

He had reacted in a heartbeat and marched to the young boy in front of his daughter, rage filled him when the boy even had the nerve to cast a shield to remain alone with his daughter.

The man turned around to his daughter only to be met with an absolute furious face.

" **Father! He was immune to my allure! He casted the shield to protect me from all those that were affected!** "

The father recoiled in surprise " **Really!?** "

The daughter stomped with her right foot while all but shouted at him " **Yes! I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't done it!"**

He turned around to the direction the boy disappeared too, but he couldn't find him through the crowd. He started to feel guilty, he had jumped to conclusions.

" **I'm sorry Fleur.. Maybe we will see him later again.** "

They did see Artemis again later on the day. Artemis had been sitting at one of the terraces enjoying a vanilla ice cream when he heard a soft voice from behind him calling his attention.

" **Pardon?** "

He turned around and saw the veela girl from before standing there. Artemis gave a small smile " **Hello** "

His gaze then turned towards the person standing next to her and he recoiled in surprise and a little fear. It was her father that threatened her.

Seeing his reaction the man soothingly raised his hands while calmly saying " **Easy young man. I mean no harm.** "

Seeing that he only relaxed slightly the man continued " **Fleur here** " and he gestured to the girl he had helped, " **Told me that you helped her while she had problems controlling her allure earlier today.** "

Artemis nodded meekly in return, so the father continued " **I saw the commotion and feared for the worst. When I saw you standing there with that shield raised, I was afraid that you had been effected by the allure and were about to harm Fleur. My daughter told me immediately after I had threatened you away that you meant no harm and actually protected her from those men"**

The man started to smile and stepped forward and extended his hand " **I think we started on the wrong foot young man and I apologize. Let me introduce myself, I'm Jean Delacour. Father of this beautiful young lady** "

Artemis visibly relaxed during the explanation and stood up and shook the extended hand while smiling " **I'm Artemis Ladon sir** "

" **Pleasure to meet you Mr Ladon. Please call me Jean** " while Jean's eyes beamed in a warm way at him.

" **The pleasure is mine Jean. Please call me Artemis** " and he turned to Fleur while adding " **Please Miss Delacour, you can call me Artemis too** "

Fleur smile, that had been formed during the conversation between him and her father, turned even brighter and she extended her hand while saying in that same soft soothingly voice he heard her thank him with earlier that day " **Please call me Fleur Artemis. You more than deserved that"** Then her smile turned a little cheeky as she added " **My hero** "

He took her hand and brushed his lips against her knuckles and looked up and met her eyes with a very similar cheeky smile " **It would be my pleasure to call you Fleur… My damsel in distress** "

Jean Delacour witnessed the playful banter and knew that a friendship had just born before his very own eyes. And maybe, just maybe, it would blossom into something more than a friendship when they become older.

 **Flashback end**

Jean couldn't have been more right about that hunch on that very day at the Parisian magical district. The relationship between Fleur and Artemis had grown beyond a mere friendship in the past 4 years. They were like siblings to each other. Each other's confidants and protector if needed. Between Gabrielle and Artemis the very same sibling relation grew, she viewed him as the big brother she never had. Artemis became the 3rd Delacour child of the family in all but name and blood and the trio formed a very tight group.

It was with a beaming smile that Jean saw Artemis being engulfed in a big hug by Fleur. When they broke apart he was instantly gathered up in a motherly hug by Appoline.

" **What happened Arti?** " Fleur asked him while he was still being smothered by Appoline

Artemis stepped out of the hug and his smiling face filled with love turned serious " **Voldemort has been resurrected** "

The statement caused them to gasp in shock. They believed him immediately. They knew of his Speaker ability and the task of helping Gerard Potter defeat the Dark Lord and that he wouldn't lie about anything as serious as this.

Jean's face grew grim and serious, it seems that he would have to strengthen the wards around Delacour Manor, or atleast request Artemis to give it a one look over.

" **How?** " he asked him

Before Artemis answered he knelt down and faced Gabrielle. She had begun trembling and whimpering in fear and clinging onto his hand ever since he announced Voldemorts return to the other Delacours.

" **Shhh my angel. Do not be afraid. I will not have him do anything to you and your sister, mother and father. If he wants to hurt you he will have to go through me and Veraxes. And you know how protective that dragon is over you Gabby** "

He cupped both of her cheeks and kissed her forehead and he felt that the trembling and whimpering had been lessened. The soothing words of him had always worked whenever Gabrielle had been afraid or worried for something.

Artemis turned to Jean " **The cup was a portkey brought Gerard to the graveyard of Little Hangleton. A ritual was performed using Gerard and Voldemort has a body again. I stepped in on time and fought him and his followers back. But rest assured that this was only a small fight in what will become a long war** "

Fleur gasped with wide eyes " **It could have been me if I had reached that cup first** "

He could only nod, it was true. Deep in his heart he was glad that she hasn't won, even though she worked really hard for it.

"I know that you wanted to win Fleur, but deep inside I am glad that you didn't reach the cup first. I dread the thought of you being captured by Voldemort than that arrogant idiot of a Potter" the white haired boy firmly told the beautiful blonde.

He felt Gabrielle nod firmly in agreement and saw the expressions of Jean and Appoline telling him that they shared his feelings.

They remained silent for several moments, deep in thought about the events of tonight when Jean spoke up again " **Rest assured Artemis that the French minister will be notified of Voldemorts return. I am sure that he will believe you** "

The French minister of magic was next to the Delacours, the only person that knew about Artemis' ability. Hiding the increased dragon activity would be hard and to prevent unnecessary panic amongst the French muggle and magic community he informed the Minister of Magic about his existence.

The fact that the ancestral home of the Speakers has been in France for millennia has caused the legends of the Speakers to be fairly good known and the French MOM was very understand full and willing to help.

" **Good, I don't know how the English MOM will react to this news. Having international back up might be detrimental for the upcoming war** " Artemis replied while nodding approvingly.

" **it seems like we will know that soon enough Artemis** " Jean said while he nodded his head to something behind Artemis.

He turned and inwardly scowled as he saw Albus Dumbledore in the company of James and Lily Potter and Gerard and his friends.

He groaned softly as he spotted the huge proud looks on James and Lily faces and the annoying arrogant smirk of Gerard. Gerard must have fed them some poppycock story where he obviously, resides in the spotlight.

What made Artemis skin crawl was the fact that Albus Dumbledore as marching towards him with a twinkle in his blue sharp eyes so large that he could spot it from a little away. It seem that Albus was excited about something and it surely had something to do with Artemis as Dumbledore's eyes never left his.

Suddenly a feeling spread through him. The feeling that he rather fight Voldemort than participate in the upcoming conversation.


	4. Chapter 4

**French language**

 _Dragon speaking_

Apparently Artemis' discomfort was noticeable as he felt someone step up beside him and gently grasp his hand. The hand felt incredibly soft and warm and… just… right in his hand, like it fit perfectly in his. He looked to his side to see whom the owner of the hand was and immediately stared in sky blue eyes. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw long strands of blond hair cascading around the face of which the eyes belong to.

Fleur gave him a comforting smile and started gently tracing a pattern on the back of his hand with her thumb. He answered the smile with his own, yet it didn't reach his eyes.

" **What's wrong** **Arti?** " Fleur asked in her gentle and soothing voice bearably hearable to the people around them.

" **Nothing** " he returned.

He could clearly see that she didn't believe him so he quickly pulled back his gaze to the incoming party to only softly groan in disparity.

In the brief moment he had pulled away his eyes from Dumbledore and the Potters, 2 men had joined up to them. One of the men owns grey eyes and salt and pepper coloured hair that had distinct curls in them. He was dressed nicely and was for sure pleasantly to watch for the female sex.

The other man was different, his clothes weren't bad at all, but you could see that they had endured some work. The man owned short brown hair and blue eyes.

The nicely dressed up man is Sirius Orion Black, Lord Black since the death of his grandfather, but more importantly he is Artemis or actually Harry Potter's godfather. Not that he ever honoured his godfather duties… The shabby clothed man is Remus Lupin, godfather of Gerard Potter and unknown to most; a werewolf.

The party finally reached them and Dumbledore stepped up with such a obnoxious twinkling in his eyes that Artemis wanted nothing more to hex it out of his eyes

"Greetings young man. I am Albus Dumbledore; Headmaster of Hogwarts" and he extended his hand out.

Artemis hesitantly shook it and let go. 'You have a lot more responsibilities than only being headmaster Dumbledore. You won't fool me' he thought to himself

Dumbledore continued in a grandfatherly tone "Let me introduce you to the people behind him" he turned around and gestured to each person behind him as he named them "This is Remus Lupin, this is Sirius Black or officially Lord Black, this lovely couple is James and Lily Potter"

He swept his hand over to the people behind Artemis and smiled "Of course behind you are the Delacours but it seems you are already well acquainted with them" as he pointedly looked at the entwined hands of him and Fleur and Gabrielle that stood very close to him.

"There is only one more person to introduce, but it seems that you already met him on a certain graveyard" he grandfatherly gestured towards Gerard. Who was looking very smug with himself

"He told us what transpired at the graveyard and we would like to thank you Mr…?"

"Artemis… Artemis Ladon"

Dumbledore smile grew " We would like to thank you Mr Ladon for the safe return of our champion"

As if on cue James Potter stepped forward and extended his hand "Me and Lily would like to thank you too Mr Ladon." Artemis didn't want to shake the hand of his father but it would do more harm than good to refuse it, so he shook it quickly and dropped his hand again.

If James noticed the not wholehearted shake of the hand he didn't let that on as he immediately continued very enthusiastically; "Gerard told us how you arrived and battled the Death eaters while he duelled Voldemort. I do have to say on the lack of wounds on either of you, you probably made one hell of a team out there"

Artemis' face grew cold and that didn't go unnoticed by the others as Sirius, Remus and Lily exchanged curious glances with each other. Only Dumbledore didn't react or didn't show any reaction for whatever reason.

Artemis eyes shifted from James to Gerard. His eyes narrowed as he saw the little shit trying to act all confident and powerful and sneaked hungry looks to Fleur who was still beside him. "Really….? He duelled the Dark Lord? How….. interesting"

This apparently confused the others as Sirius stepped up and asked "What do you mean interesting? You were there right? So you saw him fighting Voldemort!"

Artemis at this point was starting to get angry, that piece of shit is trying to claim all achievements on himself… Gloat all you want boy, but the Dark Lord will destroy you without me.

He turned his eyes and stared straight into the grey ones of Sirius.

He couldn't help but just squirm a little bit under that cold look from Artemis, whatever James and I just said, the stranger clearly didn't find it amusing.

"I find it 'interesting' that this boy managed to duel the Dark Lord while stuck to a statue and without his wand. That is a feat that not even Mister Dumbledore can perform" Artemis sarcastically said

Dumbledore didn't like where the conversation was going and tried to step in "Gentlemen please-" but he was cut off by James

"What do you mean!? He wasn't stuck to a statue! And he DID have a wand! Gerard told us he was released from the statue and he duelled Voldemort! Are you accusing my son of lying!? Trying to crawl in his deserved spotlight!?" James accusingly shouted at Artemis. James famous temper and protectiveness of Gerard didn't take long to rise up

Artemis didn't flinch nor move a single muscle in his body as he watched the Potter patriarch lose his cool.

"Will you kindly shut up you idiot" he snarled at James. "Your precious son was cowering like a little baby at that graveyard and didn't do shit. If it wasn't for me stepping up and interfering that little idiot, that is trying to act all powerful while he has the magical potential of a fucking squib, would have been killed in not even a second by the Dark Lord"

At that moment Gerard decided to poke his smug face in the discussion "I am the Boy-Who-Lived! I am more powerful than you! I defeated the Dark Lord while I was a baby!"

Artemis eyes started to glow a little as he stared deep into the hazel ones of Gerard and saw the boy squirming a little. He scoffed "Oh yeah kid? I didn't see that tonight you arrogant shit! keep hiding behind your mothers skirt boy! Because the next time you are in a dangerous situation you can't handle with your incompetent head I won't be there to save you! We both know what happened there and we both know that you can't defeat him!"

"Don't talk to him like that! He is the Boy-Who-Lived! He is more important than a nobody like you- " James started but Dumbledore interfered again and this time successfully .

"Gentlemen please, this is just a misunderstanding" he placated to both of them

Artemis just huffed "A misunderstanding? Please….. That arrogant brat is lying.. The only misunderstanding here is that this idiot in front of me is too stupid to see that!"

James face grew red from the blatant insult "Listen here boy! My son is an excellent politely raised boy!"

This time it was Fleur that scoffed "Oh please! He has been trying to get in my skirt all year long. He acts arrogant and unmannered and just because some fancy title he thinks he owns everything and everybody"

"Now listen here you.. you.. you filthy halfbr-" James shouted but he was cut off by his own shock when he felt something sharp pricking into the skin just below his chin.

His wide open eyes immediately looked down to see a yellow-orange mixed coloured sword pointed at him with the tip of the sword just applying enough pressure under his chin to draw a small amount of blood. His eyes shot up to look at the wielder of the sword for only to stare into almost glowing gold eyes that were boring deep into his. The fury in the eyes was clearly evident giving James a clear message, never badmouth the Delacours

"I wouldn't finish that sentence… you wouldn't like the consequences" Artemis coldly hissed while applying just a little bit more pressure with his sword to send across the message on just what those consequences hold.

Everybody was silent, all processing the fact the sword appeared out of thin air in less than a blink of the eye. Normally Gerard would have put a foot in his mouth and started raging on the disrespect to his father, but he having witnessed what the stranger could do with that sword was instilled with fear. That didn't stop everybody beside Dumbledore to draw their wand.

Dumbledore once again tried to contain the situation "Mr Ladon, James please calm down and lower your weapon" completely ignoring the fact that Artemis not once raised his voice throughout this "I'm sure that we got onto the wrong foot this evening. What do you say that we retire to Hogwarts and continue the talks about tonight in the quiet of my office?"

Inwardly a battle was raging, he wanted nothing more to strike down James. To take revenge for his youth, for all the neglect imposed on him. The fact that he insulted Fleur.. His Fleur.. It only increased that feeling, but he knew that it wasn't the smart thing or the right thing to do. The fallout would be huge and the Delacours, even though unaware of his identity before Artemis Ladon, wouldn't want him to act on his feeling of revenge and anger. And the Delacours were his everything, his new family.. And disappointing them is the last thing that he wanted do.

He felt a soft hand on his outstretched right hand holding the sword, the hand was softly applying pressure to lower his arm. He felt a warm breath near his ear and heard the soft whisper " **Don't Artemis** "

He turned his head and met those blue eyes, silently pleading him to hold his temper, if only for her sake. And god knows it he can't refuse her anything. He knew it hurt her every time she was called a 'creature' or 'a half-breed' yet she always let it go. "The only people that matter to me don't see me as a half-breed or creature and that is all that matters Artemis. You and my family protect my honour when I'm called those petty things and that's all that's important okay?" she once told him

With an almost unnoticeable nod of his head, he slowly lowered his sword and with a flick of his wrist it disappeared. Some of the tension between the 2 groups disappeared. And Artemis just wanted this to end, he fought the Dark Lord, had a verbal fight with his own bloody father about that idiot of a brother and even held James at the tip of his sword.

He turned his head and saw the Delacours except Fleur, who was still standing beside him; her hand never having left his arm, behind him standing very tense. The questionable gaze of Jean didn't go unnoticed by Artemis

They had seen a side to him that hadn't yet seen daylight. He had dealt with plenty of unpleasant people before in the presence of the Delacours, but he had never left his cool and started swearing or even drew his weapons unless needed for his or their defence. He knew questions would be asked about tonight.

Gabrielle just watched him in silent awe like she always did, he never could do wrong in her eyes. Softly sighing he flicked his wrist, conjuring a vial in his hand. Slowly in a none threatening way he raised his other hand, Fleur and pressed index finger to the side of his head, slowly extracting his finger they saw a silvery worm like thing attached to his finger.

He lowered, what most wizards would know, memories into the vial and he flicked his hand and it grew blue for a quick second, indicating that it was charmed with an unbreakable charm. Everybody was looking very curious to the vial, wondering what memory was in the vial.

His now free hand crossed to his heart he said "I, Artemis Ladon, hereby swear on my magic and life that the memories contained in the vial in my left hand are untampered with. So mote it be" and a flash of white light appeared as magic acknowledged the magical oath.

He stretched the hand that was above his heart out palm facing up and flames appeared in his hand. "As you can see I still have my magic" Artemis said with a flat tone

He stepped up and held the vial out to Dumbledore "If you want to see what truly happened at that graveyard from the moment I arrived, you should watch this. You might be able to convince an idiot or 2 from the ministry about his return with this"

Dumbledore gave a nod and smiled grandfatherly as he took the vial. "Thank you Mr Ladon. I'm sure we can get ball rolling at the Ministry"

Artemis gave an indication "It's been a long day, with many more to come with the Dark Lords return; I will take my leave for tonight"

"As will we" he heard Jean say in his slightly French accented English

Artemis turned around and was starting to leave when a question was asked that he knew was coming "Mr Ladon? How can we contact you if we ever need your help?"

He turned his head and look slightly over his shoulder to Dumbledore "I'm sure that Jean and Appoline are willing to relay any messages" to which Dumbledore nodded

Artemis felt a tug on his arm and saw Gabrielle looking drowsily up to him, the night and it's excitement catching up to her. Knowing what she wanted he picked her up and carried her bridal style. Gabrielle sighing contently as she nuzzled her head into his chest as they walked away to return home.

* * *

Once they had arrived at Delacour Manor, Artemis had excused himself fairly quickly after tucking Gabrielle into her bed. Promising that they would talk tomorrow morning about this day's events, he walked outside and vanished in his almost trademark flames back to his castle, leaving behind Fleur and her parents in the living room of the manor.

They were deep in thoughts and trying to process what tonight happened, not the Dark Lord's return was on their mind, but the strange behaviour of Artemis when he returned and was confronted with Dumbledore and the Potters.

Eventually Appoline broke the silence " **Flower, you don't know the reason why Artemis lost his cool with the Potters and Dumbledore tonight?** "

Fleur looked up from where she was seated on the couch, her head on her hand supported by an elbow on the arm couch " **No mama, he never mentioned something specific about the Potters; only things about Gerard when he appeared in the papers for something. He didn't like him that was clear** "

Appoline nodded, she too noticed that Artemis has no love lost for the famous Potter boy, always getting a sour look when his name and/or face appeared in the papers.

" **Whatever it is, it got him hard, I've never seen him react so aggressive. The only time he seems like that is when one of the girls loses her allure in public and attract unwanted attention, but even then he is more cool and collected** " Jean added thoughtfully

" **I think that if I didn't interfere when he pulled his sword….** " Fleur shuddered only from the thought alone

Jean and Appoline nodded in agreement, dreading what could have happened.. He was really really angry when James Potter tried to insult Fleur. He always got angry when she was insulted, but he always reacted on that through verbal uses, always disrespecting and humiliating the insulter in retaliation. But tonight he went straight into violent territory by pulling his sword, his Dragon Rider weapon… Their pretty much equivalent tool to the wizard's wand

" **check on him Fleur. Aphrodite knows what him being alone in such a mood will do for him.** " Appoline pleaded her

Artemis has always had the tendency when things got rough or bad to just crop it up inside of him and never reveal anything to outsiders, he never once told them anything about his life before he arrived at Chateau de Dragons, but they all had their sneaking suspicion that it wasn't a good one.

Fleur quickly looked at her father and saw him nod in agreement. Fleur always managed to get him out of his self-destructive moods. Even a blind man could see that out of all 4 Delacours, Fleur was the closest one to Artemis. Not to say that he, Appoline and Gabrielle weren't close at all with him, but the bond Fleur and Artemis shared processed just a little bit further than the parent-child bond of Jean and Appoline with him and the sister-brother bond with him and Gabrielle.

Fleur quickly rose from the couch and made way to the fire place connected to the floo-network in the other room, the shout from Fleur and the sounds of a blazing fire alerted the only 2 Delacours in the living room of the departure of Fleur.

The Delacour parents shared a knowing look " **She didn't even protest at all** " Jean said while beginning to chuckle. Appoline just sighed in agreement

Jean and Appoline are hoping for several years now that Fleur and Artemis finally realise what they had for several years now, they aren't brother and sister, they are more than that.

They had both their sneaking suspicions that Fleur and Artemis both knew that their feelings go further than those of brother and sister, but that they are too scared to reveal their feelings to each other.

Fleur has always dealt with coldness from outsiders and is probably most afraid of being rejected by Artemis and that rejection causing one of the few warmly connection with people she has to disappear.

And Artemis is probably afraid of losing his family connection with them if Fleur rejected him or if she reciprocated his feelings that for some reason the relationship goes wrong and is no longer welcome with them.

Even though they didn't actively pushed them together, they did of course do small little things like allowing them do fun activities together when Fleur was back from Beauxbatons during holidays, like visiting Paris together or go to muggle festivals with each other. And many other things normally parents were a bit reserved to allowing their children to do unsupervised.

* * *

Fleur stepped out of a marble decorated fire place inside an absolute huge entrance hall, the hall was coloured in white with the floor coloured with light blue tiles.. The entrance hall was filled with statues of dragons and other dragon-like creatures on both sides against the walls, on display on the walls were painting of certain important events for the Dragon Riders. The painting were in chronical form, with the oldest events displayed closest to the entrance doorway. The painting and statues gave you the feeling as if you were reliving history as you moved further into the entrance hall

She remembered advising him on styling and decorating the castle. Fleur, absolutely loving the light blue colour of Beauxbatons, made sure that colour was clearly representative inside the castle.

For Fleur Chateau de Dragons was her dream castle, the place she wouldn't mind living until her death. She had spent plenty of days in the castle ever since Artemis revealed the castle and his powers and abilities to the Delacours, merely a year after meeting the boy on that summer day in Paris.

The reveal of his life was spurn on by the fact that, Jean and Appoline one day after dining at Delacour Manor promptly presented him the possibility of adopting him.

He couldn't accept the adoption as in fact legally, no Artemis Ladon existed. The ritual for changing his identity only made sure that Harry Potter became Artemis Ladon in the eyes of magic, it didn't out of thin air made birth papers appear.

With pain in his heart he declined the offer and after seeing the clear hurt by his refusal he explained his abilities and where he lived. Upon explaining his new identity he was confronted with questions of who he was _legally_. Yet he told them that that chapter was closed and would be taken with him to his grave.

Fleur knew that the place he would go to if he was in a 'brooding' mood was his bedchamber balcony, so she started traversing through corridors and stairs until she stood in front of his bedroom chamber doors.

She slowly opened the door and quickly peeked inside to see if she didn't caught him in a state of undress. Not seeing him inside of him room and not hearing the shower, she found it safe to enter his room and she closed the door behind her.

She quietly padded over to the see-through door leading to the balcony. And as she predicted she saw him standing there on the balcony staring into the night sky. Internally Fleur felt quiet proud she knew arguably the most powerful wizard so well that she could locate him on a mere prediction.

She slowly and quietly opened the door and stepped onto the balcony. The moment she was on the balcony she was met with the soft warm French night air, she could feel a slight cooling breeze pass making it a very pleasant night to stand outside.

Fleur smiled as she thought back to all those days she and Artemis, sometimes joined with Gabrielle, had spent on this balcony, watching over the cliff into the nature that spread around the castle and seeing dragons from time to time fly around in the air.

Although the beautiful view the balcony normally had was obscured by the darkness, she didn't find staring into the darkness on this balcony any worse. It had a very romantic feeling standing on this balcony watching at the night sky and the sparkling stars that were scattered around.

Her deepest desire was to spent the day and night with Artemis on this balcony not as pseudo-siblings but as lovers, softly hugging each other as they would stare of into the distance. Only shifting their gazes from the horizon from time to time to stare into each other's eyes.

More than once she cursed her own fear of declaring her affection for the man standing in front of her, but she couldn't handle the possible rejection that could come with it. He meant a lot for her, more than probably even her parents, and possibly losing the bond that was already there due to a rejection and the aftermath of it, was something she feared the most.

Fleur was in no way unconfident, but still a thought lingered on in her mind; how could a man so powerful ever love someone like her. Once word gets out of his power, women of better heritage and statute then her. After all, she, how much you twist and turn, is still viewed as creature by most of magical society.

Unknown to her, several moments passed on as she was lost in her thought. Artemis of course knew she was there, he felt the wards announce her arrival and he felt her magical signature for a while now.

Even through his somewhat dark mood, he couldn't help but smile as she had come specifically for him. She didn't know it, but her presence always lifted most of his moods.

He smiled softly as he remembered all the times they had spent together, standing on this very balcony, telling each other stories and laughing. The memories could only improve if the beautiful blond witch he was talking and laughing with was in his arms and that soft loving kisses would be exchanged.

Almost at the same moment as the blue eyed veela witch behind him cursed herself for her fear and cowardice, he did the same to himself.

He wished desperately that he could step over his fear and proclaim his affection for her, but the possibility of rejection and losing his new family and in his opinion the only family he ever had, was too huge to ignore for him.

He felt her come closer and moments later he felt arms encircling his upper body and a soft head being supported on his shoulder. He basked in the feeling of being held by Fleur, it just felt so right. And he might be the most powerful wizard in the world, that didn't stop him from feeling safer in her arms and her presence.

" **What is wrong Artemis** " Fleur softly asked

Time passed on without him giving any acknowledgement of her question. Fleur knew to not press, he had heard her and she knew that he would answer eventually when he felt prepared for it.

Artemis was fighting a battle inside, he reacted that heavily tonight because of the Potters and Dumbledore and if he was to explain it than he had to reveal his past before the dragons to her. Something he hadn't done to anyone yet. But if he was to explain it to someone for the first, it couldn't be to a better person than Fleur.

" **I have to tell you something** " he softly replied

Fleur didn't move away from but only softly moved her head to let him know that he had her attention.

" **It's about my past… My past before Artemis Ladon** " he almost whispered to her

Fleur knew as the best how sensitive this subject for him was, not once in the 4 years that she knew him he ever broached the subject himself. She couldn't help but feel something warm spread through her as he was about to trust her with information about his past, something he has never done to anyone. It made her feel special that the person she loved, entrusted her with such important information about himself.

In reply she just started softly caressing his chest in a comforting way.

" **I was born a twin on 31 of July 1980.** " He paused shortly, gathering his thoughts on how to continue " **It was a year later on Halloween 1981 that we were attacked.. My parents were gone for the evening and they had left me and my twin at home with a babysitter. A dark wizard marched into our home and killed the babysitter. He walked into our nursery with the intend of killing us in her crib** " He felt Fleur gasp and applying a little more pressure on him, as if to send him a message that he survived and he was here.. Encased safely in her arms.

He licked his lips and cleared his throat " **Nobody knows what happened, but for some reason the dark wizard was killed when he attempted to murder us** … **My twin brother was exclaimed as the reason the dark wizard was perished… He was named the Boy-Who-Lived** "

He heard Fleur gasp loudly this time and he just stared up to the stars sadly; his voice heavy with emotion as he continued softly " **Yes… Gerard Potter is my twin-brother.. The Boy-Who-Lived alongside the Boy-Who-Was-Forgotten.. As I liked to call myself… You probably never heard me being mentioned, as I was quickly overshadowed by my brother…. Even by my parents… Throughout my years I had to witness…. As my parents slowly forgot about me… It started small you know.. Forgetting me in public due to all the hype around my brother or forgetting to feed my on the odd nights here and there.. Until they finally forgot my birthday when I was ten** "

He could feel tears welling up on the inside of his eyes, threatening to start their course powered by gravity on his face. Yet he mustered through and continued his story

" **That was the day.. 31 July 1990 that Harry Potter had enough and decided to run away.. I left a small note for the house elves who had taken care of me and started my journey.. I was pulled by a then unknown force into a cave where I met a certain gold eyed and blue coloured dragon… And here I am Fleur…. Mon flower.. Here stands Harry Potter, now known as Artemis Ladon** "

He turned around slowly in her arms until he faced her, where he saw that her face was tear streaked. In his own emotion he didn't feel the wetting of his shirt at the place her head was lying on.. Her teary eyes met his own teary eyes and they just stood there watching each other.. Trying to get a hold onto their emotions…

After a while and many more tears, Fleur spoke up softly " **I'm so sorry Arti** "

It wasn't the sorry, but the fact that she still used his name, that comforted him the most. He encircled his arms around her, and nuzzled his face into her neck, feeling the blond locks of her softly on the top of his head and taking in her vanilla scent deeply " **Thank you Fleur.. For calling me Artemis and not Harry** "

He felt her raising her right hand to softly stroke the back of his head while softly saying to him in his ear " **You will always be Artemis to me.. The young man I love with all my heart.** "

She was so stuck in her emotion that she didn't even process saying that last part. Veela's are creatures of emotions and can get carried away in their emotions. That can either be in passion, anger or in comforting their loved ones.

But Artemis did hear and process it. His eyes widened in shock! Could it be!? Did she say that! Does she love him? His heart filled with hope, that his feelings were reciprocated. That she too viewed him as more than a sibling..

He lifted his head slowly and stared deep in her blue eyes, that were still teary from emotions.

" **What did you just say?** " he asked her softly, eyes filled with hope.

She just looked at him slightly confused " **What do you mean?** "

" **You said 'You will always be Artemis to me, The young man I love with all my heart'** " and she softly nodded at him, she did recall saying something like that to him.

It took one second when finally the galleon dropped on her, her eyes widened and her face took a look of shock. 'OH NO!' she inwardly exclaimed 'I just told him I loved him!'

In her mind there were 2 things she could do; turn back and tell him that she loves him as a brother, or be honest and tell him she loves him more than that. As she was inwardly debating, she looked carefully in his eyes. Those golden eyes that she always easily drowned in when they looked at each other. Those eyes draw you in, captivate your whole attention. Fleur began searching the eyes for emotion, where before there was sadness and emotions, his eyes were now filled with something different. That something different was hope. Hope of a confirmation and she knew what to do.

She slowly nodded her head " **I did say that** " and she saw the hope in his eyes intensify, the hope in his eyes became so huge that his face just had to follow and thus took on a hopeful expression

" **I have loved you for a very long time now Artemis** " she softly said. Her heart was beginning to pound harder and harder as the moment of her reveal drew closer. " **I love you more than just a sibling Artemis. I have wanted to be more than just your sister for a very long time Artemis** " and she shut her eyes closed. Afraid to look into those golden eyes and to see rejection in them. That she read him wrong, that he was hopeful to hear her declare a sisterly love for him and not a declaration of more.

It was silent for a few moments.. Those moments having the feel of being the longest ever in Fleur Delacours life..

Then she heard it softly " **I love you too Fleur** " and immediately after that she felt something soft being pressed on her lips. Something that even though she never felt before on her lips, she immediately identified as other lips. Her heart soared as the conclusion reached her!

Artemis was kissing her! The short moment she didn't react to the kiss ended as she wholeheartedly started to press back onto his lips. She felt him softly caressing her lips with his own, changing this long peck into a real kiss. The kiss was soft and lovingly, both trying to confer their feelings to each other through the it.

They broke the kiss after a while and they stared into each other's eyes again. Fleur saw him staring in her eyes with the same loving gaze he always had reserved for her. She realised she has misinterpreted his gaze for a very long time now. His loving gaze she had always interpreted as gaze transmitting sibling love, was in fact more than just that; it was a lovers gaze.

She had seen that the gaze he had for Gabrielle was different, but she always thought that that was because of their age difference. Older siblings just lovingly looked at each other different than older siblings at younger siblings. How naive of her…

They held their gaze for a little while longer before Fleur lowered her head and this time she nuzzled into the crook of his neck. She took in his intoxicating smell of incense while basking in his arms, feeling loved and happy. All fears of rejections gone when she felt his hand sneak up and starting to play with her long blond hair

They stayed in embrace for a while before Fleur became sleepy and she yawned. Sleep was slowly taking her over and who could blame her. Many would become sleepy when held in a comfortable embrace late at night.

Artemis felt her yawning and chuckled, he began pulling out of the embrace and Fleur began moaning in protest as she felt her comfortable pillow moving away, drawing even more chuckles from him.

" **Come my flower** " he softly said to her as he began leading her inside. Seeing that Fleur had hard trouble walking, he softly picked her up and she immediately snuggled in closer into his embrace. He softly lowered her onto his bed and removed her shoes. He quickly slipped out of his shoes and laid down beside her on the bed.

Looking at her fondly he saw she was already fast asleep, the third task and emotional night finally catching up to her. He softly pulled her closer and with her head resting on his shoulder and his arm around her protectively, Morpheus claimed him too.

Just like the beautiful witch beside him; _His_ beautiful witch.

 **A/N: Oh yeah, almost half of the chapter being pure fluff between Fleur and Artemis! Just like it should be. I hope I haven't introduced their relationship to soon for your liking, but it made sense that after such a hard night for Artemis; secrets can be revealed by accident and from the one thing another thing can happen.**


	5. Chapter 5

**French language**

 _Dragon speaking_

Fleur groaned softly as she was pulled out of her sleep and came back to some sort of semi consciousness. She was awake, but yet she was not. It didn't prevent her from feeling a soft touch on her exposed left cheek though. She couldn't help but push herself into the touch and nuzzle it, for some reason the touch felt so.. so.. _right_. As if that touch belonged there.

She heard a soft chuckle, that in her ears, sounded so beautiful and… familiar. She felt the touch move over her cheek, softly caressing her skin. She could feel goosebumps of pleasure starting to appear.

The chuckle left her thinking though, she heard that chuckle not long ago. Then it her! She started to remember the dream she had last night.

She and Artemis were standing on the balcony outside of his room, talking about some important event. Somewhere in the conversation she made a slip of the tongue. She expressed her love for him. In her dreams, she had closed her eyes, feeling more vulnerable than she had ever experienced before.

Yet that vulnerability and doubt was for nought as he returned her love. He had initiated a kiss while she still had her eyes close. The had stayed in a lovers embrace on that balcony for many minutes. Eventually she had grown tired and the last thing she felt was him picking him up and carrying her in his strong arms.

 _Oh Lord_ did she wish that this wasn't just a dream, that it was reality.

A soft chuckle reached her ears, yet again. She had totally forgotten about that chuckle. Artemis' chuckle.

Using that chuckle as her pathway, she pulled herself to full consciousness. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw were golden eyes, a mere half meter away from her own.

Those golden eyes broke something in her mind. At once memories flooded her brain, like when an obliviation is broken.

The balcony dream is _real_! Her face lit up in a smile. Artemis was finally hers!

She saw his face lit up in a little smile as well " **Good morning love** "

Her stomach took a huge jump. He called her love! She couldn't help but feel a little fangirly, but hey, who could blame her. She waited for this moment for a very.. very.. long time

She took a quick moment to notice that he was propped up on side, with his head leaning on his hand and his other stretched out, cupping her cheek while she felt his thumb slowly caressing it. A pretty major detail was that they were still clothed.

" **Hmmm good morning to you too handsome** " she all but purred to him as shifted towards him and pressed her head into his chest.

He chuckled softly and the hand that was on her cheek moved to the back of her head and started to softly caress and stroke her hair.

She sighed contently and it remained quiet as they were basking in each other's presence.

In her head she began to process, in detail the events of yesterday again. Spending most attention to the conversation about his identity before he changed it. She took a moment to analyse it, he was a Potter. Twin to the Boy-Who-Lived. She didn't know who the firstborn twin was, the Heir Potter.

While the Potter family isn't super old, they did hold a comfortable fortune. Of course due to the Boy-Who-Lived situation, the family took a huge up turn on the famous scale.

Then she came to a thought that froze her heart in fear.

She pulled her head back from his chest so she could look up at his face. His eyes were closed and his face graced with a little smile. She could stare all day at it, but she needed an answer to her newly found worries.

" **Artemis?** "

He should have picked up on her worry in her tone, yet he was so comfortable in a day dreamy state that he didn't notice.

"hmmm?"

" **Artemis do you.. have you.. Are you drawn up into a Potter betrothal contract?** "

That question had no difficulty in pulling him back to the present at all. His eyes opened and quickly searched hers.

" **No my flower. I'm no longer a Potter. The dragons, they performed a ritual when I was ten that changed my magical signature. If any were drawn up before it, they became invalid. As in the eyes of magic, Harry James Potter no longer exists.** "

Her worry flew away from her at the speed of light. Elation filled her heart and mind. She moved her head up to his and captured his lips into a soft loving kiss.

She let herself drop down beside him again and let her head rest on a pillow, her face faced upwards so she could stare into his beautiful eyes.

His free hand that was on the back of her head during all of this, came back to cub a cheek again with his thumb caressing it softly.

They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, until Artemis broke the silence.

" **I do suppose that they received my Hogwarts attendance letter addressed as Harry James Potter** "

Her face scrunched up into a thoughtful look, he couldn't help but think that she looked very cute.

" **But wouldn't it be that no letter arrived at all? As Harry James Potter didn't magically exist on his eleventh birthday anymore?** "

He shook his head softly " **No, children are registered in the Hogwarts ledger when they detect positively on magic on birth. The residence of those children at the time they become eleven are taken from the MOM or the Muggle Ministry. So Hogwarts can contact them. Magical signature tracking is illegal in all ICW member countries** "

" **That sound logical** " she softly responded

He smiled softly at her again. After some moments he dropped the hand he was leaning with his head on. He moved closer to her, circled both his arms around her just below her breast and dropped his head so that it was lying just above her breast on her shoulder.

Her arm on his side circled around his back, softly pulling him into her body. Her other free hand reached up and started stroking his hair.

She smiled softly and contently as she watched him close his eyes. She was inwardly very pleased that he too craved for bodily contact with her, probably just as much as she craved for with him.

She didn't know how long they stayed like that, but after some time his head popped up again.

" **The Masters are requesting my presence, my flower** "

She gave him a nod and a soft okay, silently voicing her displeasure for having to move from the embrace.

He untangled himself from her and sat up, cupped on of her cheeks " **Afterwards we will go to your parents and break the news okay?** "

A confirming nod he got in reply and he turned away to get up from the bed, he was stopped however by a question from the beautiful French veela still lying down on his bed.

" **Do they.. Do they approve.. of us?** " she asked meekly and fearful

He turned around to face her again his answer softly and face pulled in a comforting smile " **You would even be in this castle right now if they didn't** "

She wondered, as he left the room to go to his meeting, how the dragons ever passed judgement on her before she even had set foot in this castle and met them personally. Then she remembered that he shared a mind with one, and the ability to use projector pensieves.

* * *

The fireplace in the floo-room at Delacour Manor flared up in bright green flames as it ejected a pair of blond adolescents. The male of the pair stumbled forward and would have lost his feet if his female counterpart hadn't reacted quickly and snatched him back by their joint hands. Conveniently the pair ended up in a tight embrace.

The females blue eyes twinkled in amusement as she stared up in the golden ones of her boyfriend.

" **How to defeat the powerful wizard Artemis Ladon you ask? Just throw him through a floo and he'll end up on his butt** " she said fake mocked him

Artemis scowled back in her for a second before his face broke up in a smile and he laughed " **You forget that he has a beautiful witch always alongside him there to catch him** "

" **And don't you forget it Mister! I will not let you out of my sight now that I have you** " She said while poking him in the chest with her index finger

" **Yes dear** " he returned theatrically as if conceding a point to her

A chuckle interrupted their playful bantering. Both their head turned towards the doorway to the living room, standing there was Jean with a face of amusement.

" **Have him dear?** " he asked with his eyes twinkling in amusement.

A blush crept onto Fleur's face " **Uhm papa, we might need to talk** "

" **Oh we will honey.** " He responded back " **But first! Appoline! They finally found out about each other!** " he shouted over his shoulder

A high squeal, a crash and hurried footsteps was all he got as an answer. Not 3 seconds later Appoline appeared beside her husband in the doorway, face split in a beaming smile.

Her daughter however was less amused " **What do you mean 'they finally found out about each other'?** " she demanded with a scowl.

" **Oh honey, we knew for ages that you two were meant to be** " her mother gushed as she hurried towards them and gathered them both in a hug.

" **We are so happy for you two!** " she beamed as she let them go and stepped back

Fleur's initial irritation at her parents already forgotten " **Really!?** " she asked hopefully

Her father cut in " **Of course we are honey, we know Artemis for a very long time now, and we couldn't imagine a better person for our daughter** " he indicated with a nod towards Artemis, receiving one back with a thankful smile

The smile that beamed from Fleur's face could make the sun look dim.

" **Now your mother has prepared lunch, so let all sit down in the dinner room** " Jean told them while gesturing behind him towards the doorway

Artemis grabbed Fleur's hand, they shared a smile and he leaned forward and gave a soft loving kiss on her cheek and muttered softly in her ear " **Love you my flower** "

" **Love you too my Artie** " she responded while squeezing his hand lovingly

They all adjourned towards the dining room and sat down. A little while later a blond blue eyed blur sped into the room and squealed and jumped on Artemis lap as soon as she saw him

" **Hi little angel, how are you doing?** " he smiled towards the little cuddle bug that was pressed into his chest.

" **Much better now that you are here big brother** " she murmured into his chest

He couldn't help but smile " **You know Gabby, maybe I will become your real big brother in the future!** "

Her head snapped up from his chest, the look on her face showed her clear excitement " **Really!?** " she squealed

" **Yes little angel! you see, Fleur and I started dating since last night. And maybe, in the future we might marry! And then I will be your big brother in law!** "

She squealed even harder and shot up from his lap and dived onto that of Fleur " **I'm sooo happy Fleur!** "

The older blue eyed veela chuckled and shot Artemis a warm look over Gabrielle's head. It never failed to warm her heart to see the most important man in her world interact the way he does with her family. The fact that he already was planning for a future with her made it all the more better for her this time.

Men are scarce for Veela due to their Lure. It being some sort of 'selection' mechanism. The weak are ensnared and the strong can resist it. The men who can resist are the ones that Veela draw to and form relationships with or atleast try to. However the men that can resist their lure are few, and to hear the one they found planning for a future with them… Well few Veela aren't touched by that.

The elder Delacours looked warmly at their 3 children. They felt blessed that they had such a family. 2 beautiful and smart daughters and 1 strong and confident 'adopted' son, who will if all went well, marry their oldest daughter and finally will become family in everything.

Lunch was spent talking softly about everything and nothing, although the harder subjects were avoided. There will be many moments in the future to talk about the upcoming war and everything dark that comes along with it, but that moment is not during breakfast, lunch or dinner. That time is for family bonding.

After diner they went and sit in the living room, Fleur curled up into Artemis side with Gabrielle in his lap on the couch. The elder Delacours went and sat in their comfy chairs.

" **So I think the time is due that I tell everybody about my history before Artemis Ladon** " Artemis began softly. Fleur reached out and softly held his hand which was snaked around her.

Nobody said anything as Artemis pulled the words to the forefront of his mind " **I was born on 31 July 1980 alongside my twin brother. He was the older of the two of us, maybe like 2 or 3 hours. Everything was fine in our life until 31 October 1981. Our parents were gone that night and our house was attacked by Voldemort.** " Gasps from Jean and Appoline rippled through the room.

" **He killed our baby sitter and was planning to kill me and my twin. For some reason he failed and got killed, or more like defeated.** " His sad voice interrupted by a dark chuckle from himself

" **My twin got credit. The Boy Who Lived was created. And me… Well I wasn't famous and thus quickly forgotten** " his voice got quieter and tears started forming in his eyes. It saddened the heart of every occupant in the room to see the strong and confident young man in front of them break apart.

" **I had enough when they forgot my 10** **th** **birthday. I left that night and I stumbled upon Veraxes in a cave and well… The rest is history I guess** "

It remained quiet in the room except for Fleur whispering soothing words in his ear and Gabrielle soft crying. Gabrielle never liked it to see someone she cares for sad.

The elder Delacours stared at each other, silently holding a conversation with each other like only long married couples could. The reached a final conclusion, they will never let this young man go. Not that they even were thinking about letting him go before, but their hearts filled with even more conviction to be his family.

The Potters didn't know it, but this was the day that they didn't make friends with the Delacour family.

 **A/N: Next chapter we will start the more in depth talk about the war and what it entails for the Delacours + An OOTP meeting reveals a startling revelation about the Potters**


	6. AN

So you must be wondering why it is taking so long for this chapter to be written.

Well in simple terms; my life since last week went south, very south. I'm dealling currently with some very serious family troubles ( with my grandma being (mortally) ill to be the least among them) alongside working, preparing for my university, my mental health has been on the decline too.

So I decides for now to quite writing. I will return to it, I enjoyed doing it very much and the two stories I have had, in my opinion, a lot of potential.

Yet when I return, I don't know. In a week, or month or half year. I don't know. I just need to sort things.

Do keep the story among your followed ones, because I will come back to this story. There's one thing in life that I hate most; and that is to leave unfinished bussines. Especially unfinished bussines that effects many people like the followers of my stories.

Kind greeting and the best of wishes,

CleanWar


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